On this week's episode, host Jon Wertheim talks with Nicole Gibbs to talk about her plans for the offseason, her assessment of the 2016 season, the reason why she made a racket change for the 2017, why she chose to play college tennis and more. Gibbs also talks about the relationship between betting and tennis and how it affects the way players are treated on social media.

Today 01:03 PM

Wintermute

Re: Nicole Gibbs

"Legit a kid in a candy store"

Dec 5th, 2016 11:09 AM

Wintermute

Re: Nicole Gibbs

Nicole's schedule:

ASB Classic, Auckland
Hobart International
Australian Open
Taiwan Open

Jesus If she can't keep that tongue in her mouth, then she should at least put it in mine...

Wait, was that my "outside voice"?

Nov 4th, 2016 02:39 AM

tie_breaker

2nd round loss in Scottsdale...At least the scoreline does not looked too well. From what i was able to view from her 1st round victory, there was no highlight reel, just errors and unenthusiastic play from her Russian opponent.

Disappointed as i haven't seen any significant improvements since the great start she had this first 4 months.

I almost think she has reached her ceiling as she has not added any weapons since college...

She's a real cutie. It seems like she works hard on her fitness and it shows. Luckily for us she has had some of the better outfits of this season which have shown off the results of her hard work.

And here's a really cute Halloween inspired pic with her new kitten Kaya.

I like her black kitten !

Oct 27th, 2016 05:05 PM

HowardH

Re: Nicole Gibbs

She's a real cutie. It seems like she works hard on her fitness and it shows. Luckily for us she has had some of the better outfits of this season which have shown off the results of her hard work.

And here's a really cute Halloween inspired pic with her new kitten Kaya.

Jul 24th, 2016 05:56 PM

DcsabaS

Re: Nicole Gibbs

^ There are many little differences between Nicole's and Simona's tennis. And there are clear cases when Nicole has the edge, for instance:
- Nicole's instinctive touches are finer.
- Nicole's slices, drop-shots and lobs are more natural, and better integrated into the game.
- Nicole's over-head shots are much more consistent.
- Nicole's tennis has more natural variety.
- Nicole's serves are usually better placed (though, not always).

Of course, there are other areas, where Simona is the better - sometimes "the best" on the tour, like her on-the-run defense-to-offense winners. (This is related to her constant habit of running - she learned how to bash the balls accurately on the run.)

All in all, with a more offensive mindset both girls could achieve MUCH MORE. The smaller girls must control the rallies in order to achieve great results - this is a general rule! The best example is DOMINIKA CIBULKOVA. Who would be simply nothing without her super-duper aggression.

To play more aggressively (when necessary), it DOES NOT need any additional skills (above what she already has), only the clear understanding that without risking more, she'll SURELY LOSE! This is pure mental! Before her breakthrough in 2013, Simona Halep was only a top 60 player (similarly to the current Gibbsy), and that changed OVERNIGHT, and became a Top 5 player.

I agree that 50% is mental with Gibbs.

However, I believe (and we can agree to disagree) that Gibbs lack these skills, which prevents her to turn a switch like Halep did:
(1) Foot speed, anticipation of where ball will go, and first step. Problem against ball bashers.
(2) Placement of shot on the run, higher % of offensive placed shots. Opponent has her running more.
(3) Lack of power to end point sooner. Allows ball basher to eventually gain control of point with just an average defense. You see Halep attacking the ball more often, while Gibbs is just hitting the ball. Big difference as Halep is moving forward towards the net.

Halep, on the other hand, does these 3 items very well.
I agree that Gibbs has skills that allow her to be very crafty with her game and stay longer in the point, but she needs her opponent to be troubled by her game and her persistence. If her opponents exploit her weaknesses more that she is able to exploit theirs, then that's where the 50% mental kicks in as she knows that she is defenseless.
You hear her time and time again that she has no more tricks she can pull. A lot has to do with her confidence, which is sky high, as noted below.

Gibbs looks unbeatable when all 3 items below occur:
(1) Tight defense is in tune. Lobs are placed deep and away from opponent's kill zone.
(2) Tight defense leads to longer rallies and more opportunities to get her offensive shots more in a zone to hit winners.
(3) Tight defense and a tuned offense results in winning, especially 3 set matches. More wins over 2 or 3 tournaments and Gibbs is playing her best, which we witnessed earlier this year before she went to play overseas on Clay and Grass.

Gibbs needs to play ITF's and build her confidence to play an optimum level. She was 12-4 on hard courts, earlier this year then went to Indian Wells and Miami and was 7-2. This shows how that confidence carried over.

She didn't play ITF's before heading to play Clay and Grass overseas and came back 1-6. She didn't have any warm-ups at ITF level.

She only played one ITF tournament before Bank of West and still was not fine tuned as she didn't make it past the 2nd round. At BOW, she barely got past Zhou in 3 sets, who just turned pro, another Stanford stand-out, before losing to Coco, and again not making past 2nd round.

Listening to her talk to her dad/coach after that 2nd set, Nicole sounded defeated as she had no answers and was flustered.

The book on Nicole is becoming well known now. To beat her, just outpower her and knock her off the court. There's only so many lobs she can return before the shots come up short or the court is wide open for an easy winner. Surely a player needs to find their range and once they do, then it becomes a one-sided match.

Coco has a good serve, so Nicole couldn't counter with her return game, which is usually her strength as she is more aggressive with her return game than with her serving game.

I think Nicole needs to do what we've all been saying and play more aggressively, more often.

To play more aggressively (when necessary), it DOES NOT need any additional skills (above what she already has), only the clear understanding that without risking more, she'll SURELY LOSE! This is pure mental! Before her breakthrough in 2013, Simona Halep was only a top 60 player (similarly to the current Gibbsy), and that changed OVERNIGHT, and became a Top 5 player.

Gibbsy lost a very winnable match against Vandeweghe (26 64 62).
- In the 1st set and most of the 2nd set she was serving GREAT .
- But in the 2nd set her RETURNING became too passive , letting Vandeweghe got into the match. Gibbsy let Vandeweghe to play her 1st strike tennis practically undisturbed, which is NEVER a good idea against a big hitter. She had only two opportunities against a warmed-up Vandeweghe, but didn't realize it in time:
A.) Move Vandeweghe to death.
B.) Attack Vandeweghe's serves to force her into a DF-machine mode.

In the decider set Gibbsy's chances were already very limited.

Listening to her talk to her dad/coach after that 2nd set, Nicole sounded defeated as she had no answers and was flustered.

The book on Nicole is becoming well known now. To beat her, just outpower her and knock her off the court. There's only so many lobs she can return before the shots come up short or the court is wide open for an easy winner. Surely a player needs to find their range and once they do, then it becomes a one-sided match.

Coco has a good serve, so Nicole couldn't counter with her return game, which is usually her strength as she is more aggressive with her return game than with her serving game.

I think Nicole needs to do what we've all been saying and play more aggressively, more often.

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